By Kayla Hallac, Online Editor-in-Chief

Outrageous. A word meaning bold or unusual. 2020 might be a year many think of as outrageous, but thanks to the originality of the Outer Banks community, this year it will still be “artrageous”.

Artrageous is an annual collaborative event to celebrate art between the Dare County Arts Council, Dare County high schools, and local artists. 

While this event is usually a large gathering with over 1,000 in attendance, like everything else this year, it has transformed into a new and creative alternative.

“All summer long we were like, ‘OK, can we pull it off?’ Things never got better with the coronavirus in terms of gathering a crowd,” Dare County Arts Council executive director Chris Sawin said. “It was like, we’re not gonna go a year without doing this. So they (Jessica Sands and Tatum Clements) came up with the idea of doing an Artrageous drive through. They worked with local organizations to purchase a bunch of art supplies to create art kits.”

This year, high school students are coming up with projects to give out to people in the community in a two-part process. 

Part one involves creating the projects, the instructions and the supplies and preparing kits to be picked up by students at designated pick-up locations throughout the county. Participants then take the kits home and complete the project using the materials and directions provided.  

Part two is an invitation for all ages of students to participate in a virtual art show. The artists have the opportunity to submit their work, whether it be a piece of writing, a painting, a song, a speech, a photograph, or anything involving the arts, online virtually at this forum by Nov. 5. The art will then be shared through different media outlets so that the community can see and appreciate it.

“We wanted to reach out to all students in Dare County, and we’re super excited about this because we are hoping people from age 4 to 18 are going to submit any piece of art,” said Sands, the program director of Dare County Arts Council and chair of Artrageous. “It could be a 30-second dance clip, it could be a song, it could be your favorite monologue, but also any art you’ve made.”

This revised way of celebrating art has made it easy for students to still participate.

“Art is coming to them – the arts council has found a way for this event to continue regardless of not all being together face-to-face,” FFHS art teacher Jenna Saunders said. “Everyone benefits from creating and I believe it to be refreshing for many to be able to still experience this event even though we will miss the collectiveness of all creating together.”

While in prior years Artrageous has only included the visual arts, this year fine arts will also be participating to broaden the reach of Artrageous to more art forms.

“I’m excited that fine arts are going to be a part of the submissions this year because it gives even more of a chance for more kids to express themselves in lots of different and creative ways,” senior Jonathon Davis said.

This opportunity has sparked creativity in many around the community, including senior Savannah Sawin, who’s currently working on projects for the event.

“The one I worked the most on is to create your own monster project with my friend Jonathon Davis,” Savannah said. “Another one is a collage of the kid’s favorite animal with materials from their backyards like flowers and leaves. The goal was to use materials that any kid probably has around their house.”

Not only is it a great way to bring art to the community, but it also works to create an opportunity for high school students to give back and volunteer, and then observe the results. High school students usually volunteer at booths for stained glass making, tie-dying, painting, or even jewelry making. The adjustment this year preserves that, but like everything else, in a different way.

“I was going to volunteer at the event last year, and it’s nice to have at least a little bit of normalcy, and Artrageous has always been an event I look forward to every year,” Savannah said. “Even though it’s different, I think the kids will really enjoy the activities.”

This year she is able to volunteer in a different way, passing out the art kits to students at the elementary schools.

The art council wants this year’s Artrageous celebration to draw awareness to students’ work and creativity, and also what teachers are doing to help kids continue to be creative even in the midst of COVID-19.

“That’s the end goal, to call attention to the wonderful work done by the amazing teachers, and their students,” Chris said.

The most important reason to preserve this event is the scholarships the program is able to provide for seniors each year, Chris added.

While Artrageous this year might not be the same as it always is, the community is lucky to still get this creative and fun opportunity.

“Anything that is important and worth preserving has been made flexible, and people collectively have found ways to push through the unexpected and still bring joy-perseverance through all of this,” Saunders said.

Art kits have been distributed in Manteo, Cape Hatteras and First Flight Elementary. To submit an original work by November 5th go to http://DareArts.org/Artrageous.

Junior Kayla Hallac can be reached at 22hallacka85@daretolearn.org.